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A Raise.

Asking your boss for a raise is never easy. Maybe your work hasn't warranted extra pay or perhaps he literally can’t afford to hand out any more and maybe you should just be content to at least be earning and be grateful for that.

What if he freaks and tells me to get out. Then what?

On the other hand, I know we can’t survive much longer on what I’m earning. Rent has gone up, kids need school books, and winter’s on the way so there’ll be heating bills.

He looks at me – his expression a mixture of pity, sadness and regret with a small but noticeable amount of resentment creeping in.

Time to pull out the secret weapon.

“I drew you a picture”.

On an A4 sheet of unruled white paper, a blue and red crayon drawing of a little boy in a cowboy hat sitting atop a horse.
He looks at it. For quite a while.